The building, part of the original Oak Cliff, is a protected historic landmark. It was built in 1915, but the church is much older — congregants began meeting in 1887, the same year Thomas Marsalis bought Hord’s Ridge with his vision for an upscale Dallas suburb.

It would take upwards of $1 million to bring the church up to Americans with Disabilities Act regulations with a new elevator, plus the old building needs extensive cosmetic renovations otherwise.

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“After 128 years of ministry as Oak Cliff UMC we have decided as a church to continue the journey of doing ministry in our community by merging/integrating as a church with Tyler Street UMC. Our facilities and buildings are beyond sustainable and are hindering the ability of the congregation to do ministry by becoming a financial burden rather than an enabling tool. Oak Cliff UMC has voted to voluntarily discontinue to exist and join Tyler Street UMC.

We will begin worshiping together at Tyler Street UMC on July 5th, 2015. As a way of meeting our congregation’s needs, we will offer in addition to what Tyler Street UMC already offers on Sunday in worship ministry, a temporary bilingual service at 12:30 pm. We are beginning the work of the integration process and will be defining permanent schedules for our ministry together.

The effective day for Oak Cliff UMC voluntary discontinuance is September 13th, 2015.

Our last worship service in our Oak Cliff UMC building is on June 28th. at 11 am. In addition, we will have a Celebration of Ministry/Life of the church Service. This will take place on June 28th at 4 p.m.

Of course we are saddened by this, so many beautiful memories of people welcoming Christ into their lives, being baptized, faith confirmations, affirmations and restorations, callings to ministry, feeding the hungry both physically and spiritually, and so much more. But we are thrilled and full of hope for our future together with our brothers and sisters from Tyler Street UMC. In the last months we have learned how much we have in common, particularly in regards to our love for God and commitment to make disciples of Jesus Christ. We leave behind bricks but bring with us oving memories and continue as people to bless our dear community.”

As my friend and colleague, the Reverend Diane Presley, said when we both served together here, “We cherish our past as we claim our future.”

My family goes back 4 generations at Oak Cliff United Methodist Church. So sad to see it close. My grandfather joined in 1909 as the 69th member of the congregation and my dad was the longest member at 89 years. Hope the North Texas Conference will do right by it.